A Soldier’s novel quest
It’s perhaps fitting that when Raghu Srinivasan, a serving officer in the Indian army, writes an adventure book on the mythical Tibetan kingdom of Shambhala, the story alludes to a tale “spun by a grizzled old timer” that the author had heard during one of his many trips in the quaintest corners of the subcontinent in a makeshift mess on the banks of the Shyok river in Ladakh by the shadows of Karakoram.
“It turned out he was a mountaineer who had accompanied, and subsequently led, quite a few army expeditions to summits in the Karakoram and the Himalayas. What he had to say didn’t seem to interest my peers because they quickly dispersed; but I stayed on and listened to the old timer’s monologue. It followed no structured order and covered fantastic myths and legends that he had picked up from the people who live in the high mountains. What I heard that night was to form the theme of my book, The Avatari,” says Raghu.
The author adds that the book follows two basic threads a physical quest by a group for Shambhala and the metaphysical/spiritual evolution of the main protagonist making him worthy of entry to the mythical kingdom. He adds, “The book is about men and women who live, and are willing to die, by a code. It is about heroism and overcoming formidable odds in the quest of what you believe in. It is about all that is good, strong, clean and indomitable about the human spirit.”
Interestingly, the book had started off only as a short story to evolve into a 500 page novel. Raghu says, “I was posted to the Indian Military Advisory Team for two years. Since it was a teaching assignment, I had time to indulge myself in reading everything their library had to offer and dabble in writing as well. I wrote three short stories and my aim was to write at least fifteen so that I could publish a book of my short stories. I began The Avataris, my fourth short story, in 2005. It was a story which was to metamorphose into a rather long novel; evolve from a spiritual journey to an action-adventure theme and occupy my thoughts for the next eight years.”
The book travels in time from 1296 to 1986 and traverses China, Tibet, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Malaya, Angola, Vietnam, England, USA and Laos. And Raghu feels that his extensive travel as an army officer has certainly aided in the process. “We have a lot of people from the defence forces writing non-fiction and quite successfully dealing with geopolitics, military campaigns, history and humorous semi-autobiographical sketches about military life,” he says, adding, “I would love to see more of them turn to writing pure fiction where they have an advantage of having served in an action-packed adventurous career that takes them to exotic locations. That’s just the stuff you need as a backdrop to an action thriller!”
Although the book is getting good reviews, Raghu Srinivasan has no intention of becoming a full-time author as of now. “I have an idea for my next book but I suppose it will take some time, probably two years from now. And no, I’m not a boring banker turned writer. I’m very happy being in the army, so writing will have to ride sidecar,” he says.